Page 75 of Cruelest Contract (Storm’s Eye Ranch)

CECILIA

A lice can’t be talked out of cutting her trip to Scotland short.

“You planned this trip for a year,” I point out. “What will your grandmother say?”

“Probably ‘Hallelujah’. She’s been complaining since I got here. Apparently I curse too much and I take excessive showers. Like she can talk. She snores like a foghorn and twice I’ve caught her snooping through my luggage.”

“At least let me pay you for the ticket. I’m sure the flight change is costing you a fortune.”

“No need. Teaching fifth grade is unbelievably lucrative.”

A short burst of laughter feels foreign but not unpleasant. As Julian reminded me the other day, laughter is medicine.

“I really am all right,” I assure her. “You don’t need to drop everything and fly to Wyoming.”

“You’re my Cecilia,” she insists, her voice breaking. “And you’ve been through hell lately. Let me hug you for my own peace of mind if nothing else.”

“Won’t catch me turning down an Alice hug,” I sniff. “Let me know when your flight is supposed to get in. I’ll send some of the boys to pick you up from the airport.”

“That would be great,” she says. “But can I please request any chauffeur but Getty? I’m afraid I can’t be responsible for what will happen to him if he insists on getting on my nerves at a time like this.”

“I’ll see what I can do but I need to be careful how I respond. He’s listening.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. He’s behind me, standing in the doorway and lurking in unnerving silence for some reason.”

“That boy should really come with instructions,” she mutters and then blows me a kiss over the phone. “See you soon. Love you bunches.”

After I end the call with Alice, I wait for my visitor to announce himself.

“When you’re done pretending to be creepy, Gaetano, feel free to state your business.”

“Mel wants to know if the dipshits are staying for dinner,” he says from the doorway. “I told her I’d ask you.”

I whirl around to face my husband’s brother. “What dipshits?”

“The ones hanging out in the yard.”

“That’s not a helpful explanation.”

As usual, he’s enjoying being a nuisance. “One of ‘em is limping around. Kind of like he got shot.”

I have no clue why he chose such a roundabout way of informing me that my brothers are here. However, I won’t deny a sliver of apprehension as I set my phone down and push away from the desk.

Getty, for all his vexing behavior, doesn’t wait before swiftly crossing the room in three strides to help me out of the chair.

“Thank you,” I say, truly appreciative.

“Can’t have you tipping over,” he replies. “Probably not good for the babies.”

Louisa is watching us from the sofa. The instant I leave my chair, she jumps into it and curls up in the center to soak up my leftover body warmth.

Getty stays glued to my side for my nervous walk to the front door to see my brothers. Julian’s brothers have grown more protective than ever. I won’t be complaining. It’s nice to have family looking out for you.

He waits while I stop at the coat closet and pull out one of Julian’s jackets. It’s just easier to throw on and it covers my perpetually growing belly.

Mel catches us before we go outside. “We’re having spaghetti for dinner,” she says. “There’s more than enough for company and it can be ready in half an hour.”

Her eyes remain red from all the crying she’s done over Cass. A black knit shawl is draped over her bony shoulders. She looks more frail than I’ve ever seen her and my heart lurches.

On impulse, I reach out to give her a hug. “Thank you, Mel.”

“Our sweet girl,” she murmurs and then gives my belly a loving pat.

The ranch is full of activity today. Large trucks arrived this morning to start hauling away the debris from the charred and fallen buildings.

Tomorrow a trio of temporary modules are arriving so the cowboys have housing while the new clubhouse is being built.

Caleb is staying in the foreman’s cabin with Miguel.

The rest of the staff will be returning after New Year’s.

There’s a gathering of men outside. Sonny doesn’t look too pleased to host yet another Grimaldi encounter and he’s flanked by his soldiers as he watches from the other end of the porch.

It’s not easy for me to imagine Angelo and Matthias hanging out together but here they are. A black SUV rental is parked crookedly at the top of the driveway and my brothers stand apart while confronted by the Tempesta men.

Fort and Tye have cornered Matthias and Julian speaks to Angelo, who slouches in an uncomfortable pose as he favors his wounded leg.

At the sound of the front door shutting, Julian turns around and immediately closes the distance to the front porch to help me down the icy steps.

Julian keeps his arm around my waist as I approach Angelo. “How are you feeling?” I ask my brother.

“Good as new,” he grumbles with obvious sarcasm and frowns at his bad leg.

“We didn’t want to bother you,” Matthias says. “We just dropped in to say goodbye because neither of us know when we’ll be back in the area.”

Unless they’re taking a scenic tour of Wyoming, the ranch is considerably out of the way to just ‘drop in’. They went to some trouble to come here and see me in person, even knowing the Tempestas’ mood is still bound to be tense.

“You both should stay for dinner,” I say. “We’re having spaghetti.”

Angelo’s eyes sweep the house and his features pinch. “We should really get going,” he says, clearly not enthusiastic about ever setting foot in there again.

“Come on,” I urge. “I’ve never known you to turn down a meal.”

This tiny piece of wisdom is enough to sway him. “What the hell?” he says, casting a glance at Matthias. “We’ve gotta eat sometime.”

Matthias mulls this over. “No arguments here.”

Mel is extremely pleased to hear my brothers are staying for dinner. I think she’s glad to have something to focus on.

Dinner is rather a strange event with a motley collection of guests. Everyone left on the ranch is invited to sit around the enormous table. Even Mel joins us for a change. However, the seat at the head of the table is left conspicuously empty.

Matthias remains on edge with his laser sharp blue eyes exchanging glares with Sonny. But Tye, seated next to him, manages to lighten the mood with outrageous tales from the pro hockey world and my oldest brother finally grunts out some laughter.

It’s good to hear Matthias laugh. I assumed he’d lost the ability.

Angelo is far easier to satisfy. He stuffs his face with no shame and even less manners.

Oh well. I suppose it’s good to know that some things don’t change.

Julian keeps his arm across the back of my chair and occasionally plays with strands of my hair. At one point he catches me staring at his profile and feeling overwhelmed that he’s all mine.

He curls his arm around my shoulders and his brows lift with concern. “You’re not eating much.”

In response, I steal the bread from his plate and take a bite. “Now I am.”

Julian smiles and a million tiny connections light up in my heart. I’m convinced this man’s smile could turn night into day.

Then his dark eyes turn serious and he mouths the words, “I love you.”

I swallow my bite of stolen bread. “I love you too.”

The huge bowls of spaghetti and meatballs are gone and Mel is serving chocolate pie when she asks my brothers, “What will you Grimaldi boys do now?”

“Back to work,” Matthias says tersely, refusing to elaborate.

Angelo is slower to respond and he doesn’t even dive into his slice of pie immediately.

“Will you return to the vineyard?” I ask.

After thinking about it, he shakes his head. “Nah. There’s nothing there but ghosts. Whatever’s left ought to be sold off.”

“Then where will you go?”

He shrugs. “Think I’ll try my luck in New York. I’ll find something to do there.”

“I’ll vouch for you,” Matthias says.

Angelo’s head whips up to look at him across the table. This is no small thing that Matthias is offering.

“Yeah?” Angelo says with surprise.

The corner of Matthias’s mouth curls up. “Yeah. We are brothers after all.”

I don’t know how long it will last, the two of them teaming up or even getting along, but I prefer to think optimistically.

Julian offers the family private jet to fly them to New York. He says he can have the pilot and flight crew ready and waiting in Laramie within two hours.

Matthias, not one to willingly accept a favor from anyone, hesitates. But Angelo takes the offer without thinking twice, which forces Matthias to mumble out the word, “Thanks.”

When it’s time for me and Julian to see my brothers off, his three brothers tag along as well. Julian insists on wrapping his warmest jacket around me before I walk through the front door.

Matthias stares at the way Julian zips up my jacket and then holds me close to his side. I could swear he seems a little wistful, perhaps thinking of how he was once in love. Then he blinks and the melancholy disappears, as if he’s chased it away.

For better or for worse, tragedy marks you forever. You get severed from whoever you were in that time of before. And whoever you might have been is lost. There’s only the changed version left behind.

But there are things I’ve learned only recently that I’d like to share with my big brother.

It’s okay to love with your whole heart even as you mourn the lost. In fact, you should do this whenever you get the chance, no matter the risk.

Each day is a fleeting gift. To squander it is a crime.

“We should keep in touch more,” I say to Matthias.

He nods. “You’ll tell me when those babies show up?”

“I will.”

His eyes fall to my stomach, then return to my face. “I got to hold you the night you were born. You were crying but then you stopped and just stared at me. I held you for long that my arms started to hurt but even then I didn’t want to give you back. Did I ever tell you that?”

“No. But I’m glad you told me now.”

Matthias gives Julian a nod of acknowledgement and then hops down the porch steps. He walks briskly to the rental car without looking back and I’m left face to face with Angelo.

Meanwhile, Julian’s three brothers have wandered off the porch to give us a little privacy. They’re having a look at the moonless sky and talking quietly. The temperature must be hovering around freezing but none of them appear to be bothered.

“Go easy on that leg,” I say to Angelo.

He shrugs. “I guess it’s some kind of miracle I avoided getting shot up until now.”

The twins are always more active after a meal.

Right now it feels like they’re starting a rock band in my stomach.

Rubbing a hand over my belly, I look up at my husband and hope what I’m about to say is all right with him.

Julian kisses my forehead and I take this as a sign he won’t mind my next words to Angelo.

“Hey, I know how you feel about the smell of cow shit but maybe you’ll come around and visit us once in a while anyway.”

Angelo glances at Julian and then back at me. “Maybe I could wear, I don’t know, fucking nose plugs or something.”

“I’m sure we can arrange that,” Julian says.

Angelo sniffs out a laugh. Then his chuckle fades and he peers carefully at my face. “Take care of yourself, little sister.”

“You too, Angelo,” I tell him.

Life is nothing if not unpredictable.

Angelo and I have never gotten along. For most of my life I’ve despised him. But the bonds of our childhood and our shared traumas still connect us.

He remembers the things that I remember, the good and the terrible.

The roar of our father’s laughter.

The homemade biscotti perfected by our mother.

The calamitous evening at the vineyard.

The way Gabriel loved magic tricks and computers long before he became a monster.

And my throat tightens with emotion as I watch my brother limp away.

Matthias waits for him at the car, even courteously opens the door so he can hobble inside. The two of them wave before they drive off.

“Did you see that?” Tye points at the sky. “Hell of a shooting star.”

No, I didn’t see it. I’ll probably never be able to scan the night sky again without feeling a pang of sadness after so many years of searching for the Gemini constellation and thinking of Gabriel.

But maybe not. Perhaps I can learn to see the beauty in a moonless sky without a surge of pain. Remembering the good things doesn’t need to automatically summon the bad.

Like I told Julian, we’re surrounded by memories.

But we’re also home. There are so many more memories waiting to be made.

“Come on.” I tug at Julian’s hand and allow him to help me down the slippery porch steps so we can join his brothers in the yard.

Julian isn’t wearing a jacket so I unzip mine before wrapping my arms around him to share my body warmth. There are endless challenges ahead and Julian is the head of the family now. He’s promised that whatever waits beyond the horizon, we’ll confront it together.

I believe him. Julian always keeps his promises.

He slips his arms under the jacket and pulls me against his body. Stretching up on my tiptoes, I angle my face in search of a kiss. He delivers one and holds nothing back. My eyes close and my body throbs with the need to feel more of him.

I can hear his brothers exclaiming over another shooting star, excited as schoolboys.

“You guys weren’t looking,” Tye complains. “You missed it.”

“No, we didn’t,” I argue and Julian smiles down at me.

How could I possibly have missed out on anything?

I was kissing my husband.